Re: [PLUG] 2013-05-14 PLUG N F/U

On Wed, May 15, 2013 at 1:35 AM, JP Vossen <jp@jpsdomain.org> wrote:

First, thanks to Jonathan for the cool Etherpad demo & talk. I was not aware of all the interesting plugins available.

As I mentioned last night on the list, you can try out Etherpad in ~5 mins by using a "TurnKey Linux Appliance" from http://www.turnkeylinux.org/etherpad.

Someone (sorry, I didn't catch your name) got volunteered to do an "Intro to Python" preso at some point, and Walt will do "Scientific Programming with NumPy and SciPy" at PLUG W next week, hopefully. I will note that there is a free Python textbook (based on a Java textbook) _Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist_ (http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/thinkpython.pdf) along with a gazillion other books and references, of course.

We also talked about revision control. I'm in the minority in favoring Canonical's Bzr, but I find the Python-based cross-platform tool much friendlier than git, which excellent graphical and CLI tools. They have some great docs starting with http://wiki.bazaar.canonical.com/BzrWhy and especially http://doc.bazaar.canonical.com/migration/en/why-switch-to-bazaar.html.

While BZR has great GUI tools, SVN does not (unless you use TortoiseSVN, which I don't). But I do have Python26 on my XP VM, so I can run Zim and Meld, and so I got Meld to work as the external GUI diff tool for our work SVN. It was a pain to figure out but easy enough to do, ask me if you care.

And related to both of the above, to get started with revision control servers:
http://www.turnkeylinux.org/all?filter=Mercurial&viewsearch=
http://www.turnkeylinux.org/revision-control
http://www.turnkeylinux.org/redmine
http://www.turnkeylinux.org/trac

Redmine and Trac are particularly interesting since revision control is only a subset of the project management features they provide.

And for all you git fans with bleeding eyeballs: http://www.turnkeylinux.org/gitlab

Finally, and OT, Walt & I were talking about the pain of Windows desktops, and I mentioned two tools. The first I can't live without, and mitigates the second for me.

TaskArrange:
"TaskArrange is a simple utility that lets you rearrange the buttons of the Windows taskbar."
"Sometimes we open our programs in a specific sequence, to keep their taskbar buttons in a desired order. But what happens if a program crashes or we close it, and then we open it again?"

Like Walt, when stuck on Windows I usually accumulate a lot of windows (I have 37 right now on my XP VM for work). I'd be lost if they were in random order, but with TaskArrange I keep them all in the same place all the time. It may be a bit less useful on Win7, given the arbitrarily screwy way that deals with the task bar, but it still works (I just tried it, without installing it or using admin rights). The source site went away, but it's still here: http://web.archive.org/web/20111206172151/http://users.forthnet.gr/pat/efotinis/programs/taskarrange.html. I just downloaded the tiny zip and the MD5 matches my previous copy.

WindowsPager:
"WindowsPager is a desktop-switcher/pager for Windows Vista/7/XP/2000 to manage 'virtual' workspaces/desktops. It will integrate smoothly into the desktop panel."

Because of TaskArrange I hadn't actually used this one until I tested it out just now on both XP and Win7. Again, no install or admin rights. It Just Worked and was totally awesome on XP. It also Just Works on Win7, but I found it more confusing due to the dumb eye-candy preview cruft Win7 likes when you right-click a button on the task bar. But http://windowspager.sourceforge.net/documentation.html is pretty clear.

Later,
JP
----------------------------|:::======|-------------------------------
JP Vossen, CISSP |:::======| http://bashcookbook.com/
My Account, My Opinions |=========| http://www.jpsdomain.org/
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